Happy Diwali

Diwali is the time of celebration of victory over evil, joy of enjoying the oneness of a country, that raises beyond religions and faiths to celebrate the festival of lights. Diwali is an occasion to unite families and bring in friends together to cherish the happiness of celebrations together.
To me, Diwali reminds me of a nostalgic era that brought with it wonderful memories. The memories of happiness, the memories of having crackers a month ahead, new dresses, lots and lots of sweets and savories, lot of visitors and pujas in the temples. There used to be a competitions on who burst the maximum crackers. The most colourful neighbourhood with Thoranas, rangolies and beautiful girls in half-sarees and young boys trying their first vesties. The charm used to be sharing sweets- most of them home made and the hot and spicy vada and adursam, the one sweet my mom used to make at home...... slowly years went by, changes came in, and city life limited its celebrations to one or two days...Home made sweets replaced the packages came in from Krishna Sweets or Adyar Ananda bhavan- with the same home made taste and the puja ingrediants as well- along with a music cd...the time spent with friends and families slowly started to get replaced by people getting hooked to the special programmes on the TVs..new movies released, the celebrity interviews, and also some programs reminding you of the Diwali purpose and meaning.....when people started to move across the globe, this started becoming an universal festival- White house celebrating Diwali a day ahead...lot of bhajans and puja's organised in the local Hindu temples.. where for that day, people get to be there together in the Indian attire, sings songs together and have food in the communal kitchen, some children tasting Indian sweets first time. The spirit of Diwali do not change, only the way of celebration does.
Wishing all my friends and family a very happy and colourful diwali..let the lights bring in peace, happiness, joy and prosperity. Happy Deepavali!!!